13-Sep-2007
Pride & Passion Give Somerly The Winning Edge
A fiery combination of pride in the community they have created, and passion for the work that they do, has given Urban Pacific Limited and its residential estate, Somerly, the winning edge in this year’s 2007 Urban Development Institute of Australia’s State Awards for Excellence in the category of Residential Estates Over 250 Lots.
This is the second time that Somerly has been recognised by the UDIA, which is the property industry’s peak body in Australia. In 2006 Somerly won the UDIA’s State Award in the Affordable Development category and was also a finalist in the Public Relations Institute of Australia national awards for their Community Relations Program.
Somerly, Perth’s only true transit-oriented-design residential estate, is located in Clarkson, 34 km north of Perth and adjacent to Mindarie just minutes from the beach, shops, schools, parks and public transport.
The 162-hectare estate is a joint venture between the Department of Housing and Works and Macquarie Real Estate Equity Funds and is managed by multi award-winning national developer Urban Pacific Limited. With less than 40 lots remaining, Somerly is destined to become a bustling community of almost 2,200 homes and more than 5,400 residents.
The UDIA’s judges noted that Urban Pacific had made good use of the area’s challenging grandstand-style landscape and public open spaces, which gave Somerly a genuine sense of place.
The judges also commended Urban Pacific on Somerly’s success, which has been significantly enhanced by the application of transit orientated design principles. The use of both low and medium housing densities around the Clarkson railway station, provides doorstep access for residents to the integrated transport network linking Somerly to the Ocean Keys commercial centre and the Perth CBD.
The Somerly estate has incorporated a number of special design features including mixed use and varied lot sizes, themed parklands and controlled building design covenants for each area of the estate. According to residents, what really sets Somerly apart from the competition is the intangible social dimension which gives the estate a totally different ‘feel’ and atmosphere.
This is due to Urban Pacific’s “whole of community” approach to property development. Urban Pacific takes pride in Somerly’s many people-friendly initiatives, which include free community and “welcome” events, pedestrian and cycle ways, and the inspired public artworks which adorn Somerly’s many landscaped parks.
While homebuyers have enjoyed a substantial increase in house prices at Somerly, prices still remain within the reach of first homebuyers. Urban Pacific has consciously kept home and land packages below the median home price in a booming real estate market, and as such was awarded the 2006 UDIA State Award for Excellence for Affordable Development.
The project has continued to offer an unmatched value proposition in the West Australian housing sector and, as a result, sales have grown from 12 per month to 53 per month over the five years of the project.
The speed at which new releases have sold at Somerly illustrates how the product has met an ongoing need in the market place, with very strong demand for the smaller lots.
National Operations Manager, Neil Anderson said Urban Pacific was delighted and honoured to receive the UDIA Award.
“It has been a tremendous challenge to develop the best residential estate possible and yet still keep it affordable.
“It is with much pride in our achievement and with much passion for the project that I accept this award on behalf of all our partners, suppliers, employees and, most importantly, for the residents of Somerly,“ he said.